This information is design to help you with the concerns you may have about getting breast cancer. Over her lifetime, a woman can encounter a broad variety of breast conditions. Even though most are not cancer, they are worrisome.

The article presents some facts about breast cancer, describes screening for the early detection of breast cancer, explains the various types of breast changes that woman experience, and outlines methods that doctors use to distinguish between benign (noncancerous) changes and cancer. It reviews factors that can increase a woman's cancer risk and reports on current approaches to breast cancer prevention.

Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor composed of abnormal breast cells dividing without control and order. They can invade and damage nearby tissue, enter the blood stream or lymphatic system and spread to distant organs to form new tumors - metastasis.

Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer among women and is second leading cause of cancer mortality in women. Breast cancer mortality rates are decreasing and are attributable to early detection and available treatment.

Breast cancer causes are unknown, so prevention is not currently an option. However, there are some things a woman can do to help detect breast cancer in its early stage, when it is more curable. These include:

Although being diagnosed with a cancer is never easy, woman with a breast cancer have more treatment chances and can expect to live longer with the disease than ever before. Doctors are continually learning more about breast cancer, its prevention, detection and treatment. They are finding ways to improve breast cancer treatment options and to help women with breast cancer have better life.

Status Report
Every year more women are getting breast cancer. Some of the increase can be traced to better ways of recognizing cancer and detecting cancer in an early stage. The increase may also be the result of changes in the way we live - postponing childbirth, taking replacement hormones and oral contraceptives, or eating high - fat foods.

Eighty percent of cases of breast cancer occur in women ages 50 or older, but it affects younger women, too. One percent of cases of breast cancer occur in men.

The encouraging news is that, more and more, beast cancer is being detected early, while the tumor is limited to the breast and very small. Currently, 66 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancers show no signs that the cancer has spread beyond the breast.

With prompt and appropriate treatment, the outlook for women with breast cancer is good. Moreover, a majority of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer are candidates for treatment that saves the breast.

Detection
The key to finding breast cancer is early detection, and the key to early detection is screening i.e. looking for a cancer in women who have no symptoms of disease. The best available tool is a regular screening mammogram (a special kind of x-ray). It can decrease woman's chance from dying from breast cancer. For some woman, early detection may prevent the need to remove the entire breast or receive chemotherapy. Mammography is not foolproof. Changes can be difficult to spot in the dense glandular breasts of young women. The effectiveness of mammography seems to increase as a woman ages.

Risk Factors
Simply being a woman and getting older puts you at average risk for developing breast cancer. The older you are, the greater your chance of getting breast cancer. It is unusual for a woman younger than age 35 to get the disease. At age 55 the risk is 3 % and it increases to 12.5% for a lifetime.
No woman should consider herself too old to need regular screening mammograms.
The following conditions place a woman at higher than average risk for breast cancer:

Having one or more risk factors does not mean that you are certain or even likely to develop breast cancer. On the other hand, not having any of the known risk factors does not mean that you are "safe". Most women who develop breast cancer have none of the risk factors listed above, other than risk that comes with growing older.

Screening mammograms: Not Just Once, But for a Lifetime

Annual screening mammography for women starting at age 40 is a standard recommendation nowadays. Taking into consideration your age and personal risk factors your doctor can help you decide when you should start having screening mammography and how often you should have it. The screening mammography is effective only when is performed in regular, not too long intervals. It allows detection breast cancer in its early stage and further successful treatment.

It is every woman's responsibility to follow the recommended screening program through her lifetime. Screening for breast cancer is a very important aspect of a wider general concept of taking care of your own health and life.

Muscat Private Hospital provides high quality mammography service including screening mammography for asymptomatic women. We accept direct access by women who refers herself for screening without physician referral in advance (i.e. self-referral screening mammography). We do provide further consultation by the surgeon who assumes clinical responsibility for such patients.